Work Iniquity
One of the stunning verses in the Bible is taught by our Lord Jesus is in Matthew 7:23. "Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" If a person drives out demons and performs miracles in Jesus's name. Why does our Lord not know that person? May be the meaning of "work "iniquity" will tell us why ...
ENGLISH - GOSPEL
YTM
6/21/20263 min read
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(Matthew 7:21-23; KJV)
In previous post "known by Him", we mentioned three reasons that Jesus rejects them. One of the reasons is they are evildoers. Today we will focus on this point and explain the exact meaning of "being an evildoer".
The evildoers in NIV Bible is translated as "work iniquity" in KJV's Bible. The Greek words for "work iniquity" are "ergazomai anomia". The Greek word "anomia" normally is translated as "iniquity". Iniquity is one type of sins. In the Bible, when we talk about sins, we have sin, transgression, and iniquity in English. The corresponding Greek words are hamartia, parabasis, and anomia in Greek and khata, pesha, and avon in Hebrew.
Over the time, people uses sin to replace transgression and iniquity, and we lost the sensitivity to the true meaning of them. The definition of sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). Basically, when we "missed the mark of the law", we sinned. The law of the Lord is perfect (Psalms 19:7), and we are still in the process of perfection, it will be easy for us to "miss the mark of the law". In the Bible, a transgression is a willful act of breaking of a law, stepping over a moral boundary, or violating a trust. It essentially means "knowingly crossing the line" that God has established. As for iniquity, it is more about distortion or perversion what is good and holy of God. The Bible Project's word series on this topic simplified this very well: the ways we miss the goal is sin, bend or distort what is good is iniquity, and fracture relationships is transgression. Here is a simple example: someone who does not know God's law and has sexual relationship outside of marriage, this is sin. But if this person is a believer and knows the No.7 (shall not commit adultery) and No.10 (shall not covet neighbor's wife) of the Ten Commandments, then it's a transgression. But if this person not only has the sexual relationship outside of marriage but has it with the same sex, then that's iniquity.
The Hebrew word "avon" focuses on the inward crookedness and the resulting damage to the soul. The Greek word "anomia" focuses on the outer rebellion and the breaking of God's standard and rules. So you can see , the iniquity describes those whose hearts are so twisted and crooked and they will deliberately against God's law to fulfil their own perverted desires of their hearts. The tense of "ergazomai" is present tense , which describes this action is happening right now, as habits, or continuous events. Even when Jesus was talking to them, these people were still practicing iniquity. The present tense suggested they had never repented to God until the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, "work iniquity" has to do with someone who knowingly, habitually practices evil, twist what is good, rebellion against God. This is typical of the Devil's character. Of course, Jesus has nothing to do with such person, and He does not "ginosko" them at all!
Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:30; KJV)
What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:15)
When our Lord Jesus went through the suffering of the cross, He took away our transgressions and iniquities. This is God's Holy words:
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions (pesha), he was bruised for our iniquities (avon): the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity (avon) of us all.
(Isaiah 53:3-6; KJV, Bold and color words are used for emphasis)
Lord Jesus, thank you so much for taking on my transgressions and iniquities on you, so our sins can be cleansed and forgiven!